This disclosure relates to heat resistant pipe and a method of manufacture thereof.
Steel piping has traditionally been utilized to carry and transmit water and other fluids. However, steel piping suffers from the drawback that it is heavy and cumbersome. Its large mass generally causes problems during manufacturing processes such as cutting, fitting, and the like. It also renders installation processes cumbersome and expensive due to the large number of personnel required. Steel piping additionally suffers from a lack of chemical stability, which causes rusting. The presence of rust in pipes often gives rise to an unpleasant odor in the water.
In order to overcome these drawbacks, pipes are now made of synthetic thermoplastic resins such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). While PVC provides significant benefits such as low weight, adequate hardness and impact resistance, it suffers from drawbacks such as the lack of heat and pressure stability. In order to improve heat stability, Patent No. Hei 8-276549 teaches a multilayered fiber reinforced pipe having a first layer formed from fiber-reinforced PVC, a second layer formed from either an acrylic resin or PVC containing a dispersed acrylic rubber and a third layer formed from acrylic resin laminated onto the outside of the first layer. However, differences in thermal expansion between the different layers due to ambient temperature fluctuations often cause them to peel apart. Additionally PVC suffers from a lack of chemical stability, which can give rise to the presence of chlorine, which may be undesirable. Plasticizers utilized in PVC such as phthalic acid ester and nonyl phenol may leach into the soil from embedded pipes, contributing to environmental issues. Thus, despite some of the advantages of PVC over steel, there remains a need for improved low weight, impact resistant and environmentally friendly piping for transmitting water and other fluids.